High court rejects Scottie Pippen defamation case

Monday

Jun 16, 2014 at 1:00 PM

The Associated Press

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court has declined to revive a defamation lawsuit that former Chicago Bulls star Scottie Pippen filed against several media companies for falsely reporting he had filed for bankruptcy.

The justices on Monday did not comment in letting stand lower court decisions dismissing the $10 million lawsuit against NBCUniversal Media LLC, CBS Interactive Inc. and other media outlets.

Lower courts found that as a public figure, Pippen could not show the reports were published with actual malice. That standard requires Pippen to show the information was published knowing it was false or issued with reckless disregard for the truth.

Pippen claimed the media companies acted with malice because they refused to correct or remove the erroneous reports from several websites after being alerted to the error.